The theme this week was beans. I thought I'd think outside the box, and go with the variety of beans that does not make one fart. So I made a trip to the gourmet food shop to pick me up some vanilla beans.

I had never made a panna cotta before this challenge. In fact, I'm not even sure if I had even tasted a panna cotta before making this one.
It was meant to be a lavender panna cotta with lavender shards, but I couldn't find dried edible lavender flowers in time. In the end I left them out, and tried to substitute with a bag of earl grey tea. I also left out the toffee lavender shards, as I had already consumed my body weight in lollies from decorating my first gingerbread house (blog post to come on that soon!!)

It was also my first experience using gelatine leaves, and I was so surprised how easy they are to use. So much easier than that powdery stuff!

The layer of chocolate sauce was also far more than required, but I didn't want to throw out good chocolate sauce.
The panna cotta had a lovely lemony flavour, that almost reminded me a little of cheesecake.
A fantastic recipe, I'd love to try again with lavender flowers.

1. Place the cream, sugar, lemon rind, vanilla pod and seeds and lavender in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to just below boiling point, then remove from head and set aside for 30 minutes to infuse.

2. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes to soften. Meanwhile, reheat the cream mixture over low heat. Squeeze excess liquid from gelatine, then ad leaves to cream, stirring to dissolve. Strain mixture through a sieve, pressing down on lavender flowers to extract as much flavour as possible. Divide among four to six 150ml serving glasses, then chill for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

3. Meanwhile, for lavender shards, lightly grease a baking sheet. Stir sugar and 1/2 cup (125ml) water in a saucepan over low heat to dissolve. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil, then allow to bubble, not stirring but occasionally brushing sides down with a wet pastry brush, for 5-6 minutes until golden. Pour onto tray, scatter with lavender and set aside at room temperature for 10 minutes or until set. Crack into shards, then store in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

4. Make chocolate Sauce: place cream and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to just below boiling point, then remove from the heat. Whisk in chocolate until melted, then gently whisk in cocoa until smooth. Strain into a jug and set aside to cool.

5. Top each panna cotta with a little chocolate sauce, then add lavender shards and garnish with extra lavender flowers.

Well done for thinking outside of the box and getting away from your standard garden variety beans. I myself, couldn't bear to cook anything other than homemade baked beans. :)I would be interesting to see the vanilla shards... I have so much lavender at home, I don't know what to do with it all.